Ladislau Boloni missed WC 1990 on ethnical criteria and because of the influence of the couple Dan Alban - Ioan Becali!

Ladislau Boloni

Emeric Ienei wanted to take Ladislau Boloni to Coppa del Mondo from Italy and name him the captain of the team when he was 37, but the leaders of FRF refused! 

Ladislau Boloni has an impressive record as player: 4 titles of champion, two Romanian Cups, European Champions Cup, Europe Super cup, all with Steaua, a participation at Euro '84 with the Romanian national team, 108 selections 25 goals. "None of the goals was given from a penalty!", says Loţi with proud.

But he has one big regret: he has never participated to a World Championship, although the former spotter Emeric Ienei, with whom he had won CCE in '86, had promised to take him to Coppa del Mondo from 1990.  

Left on the airport
"Loţi was 37 and he played in the second League in France, at Orleans. He had been leaving for three years from Steaua and he hadn’t been playing at the national team since '88. Ienei called and said to Ladislau Boloni that will take him to the final tournament", told a close friend to Boloni.

He continued: "He had been even convoked to a training camp at Munchen. Loţi went to Germany, but nobody waited for him at the airport. He got angry, but kept the good relationships with Mr. Imi. He would have wanted to be just like the Danish Morten Olsen, who played at Euro '88 when he was 38".



"Arranged" for Lupescu’s benefit
Emeric Ienei explains why he didn’t convoke Boloni: "I didn’t have the control of his evolutions in France and I had found a young substitute for him, Ionuţ Lupescu. He was 21 and he had already four selections".

In the world of football it is known that Ionuţ Lupescu had been imposed to Ienei by the couple Dan Alban - Ioan Becali. The first controlled, after the Revolution, the managing market in Romania, and Giovanni was his "lieutenant". "Nobody influenced me!", said Ienei.

Lupescu played three of the four matches of Romania in Italy, all as title: URSS (2-0), Argentina (1-1) and Ireland (4-5 at the penalties). Only in the match with Camerun (1-2) he didn’t play. After the final tournament, Lupescu has been transferred from Dinamo to Leverkusen.  

"We could have been a Hungarian team"
Behind the curtains, the story had also ethnical connotations after the events from Tîrgu Mureş in March 1990. "I remember it was a question for Boloni to be the captain of the team. Besides, there was also another variant: Pişti Covaci to be the coach and replace Cristian Bivolaru. Then intervened an influent person from the Federal Office and he said: «With Ienei as spotter, with Boloni as captain and with Pişti Covaci as coach, the only thing we have to do is to order T-shirts in Hungarian colours». They kept silence and the subject was close", told a former important federal.

In Italia, the captain was the goalkeeper Silviu Lung, who was 34.